Here are things to know for Thursday, May 13:
1. Children 12 or older can receive their Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at NRG Park, Judge Hidalgo announces
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The office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced Wednesday that children 12 years of age or older can receive their Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine starting on Thursday at NRG Park.
Adolescents must have parental consent to receive the vaccine before arriving. The vaccine will be available from noon to 9 p.m. daily.
This announcement comes after U.S. health advisers endorsed the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in kids as young as 12 on Wednesday.
2. Parents sue Montgomery County daycare alleging abuse, neglect of infant son
A Montgomery County family is suing their child’s former daycare center, alleging repeated neglect and abuse.
In the lawsuit against Creme de la Creme in The Woodlands, Kristin and Andrew Ernest claim surveillance videos obtained by court order show their son was mistreated between July 2018 and June 2019.
“He started to regress. I couldn’t put him in a highchair to eat, so I would have to feed him on the floor in the kitchen,” Kristin said.
The couple says they couldn’t get straight answers from the daycare ownership and staff, so they hired attorney Brad Leger and went to court to fight for access to classroom surveillance video.
“What we saw in the video was far worse than I could have imagined,” Kristin said.
3. Man seen fleeing Houston neighborhood with tiger bonds out of Fort Bend County jail
The man who was seen fleeing with a tiger in a west Houston neighborhood has bonded out of the Fort Bend County Jail.
Officials said Victor Cuevas bonded out at approximately 2:40 p.m.
Wesley Wittig, the executive assistant for the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office, said he was not surprised Cuevas was released from jail Wednesday on the evading arrest charge because Cuevas has made previous bonds in the past. Cuevas had been booked in the Fort Bend County Jail on four other occasions for violation of his bond after the 2017 murder charge, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office.
4. Major efforts underway to restore, preserve Houston’s oldest Black community
Freedman’s Town at one time had more than 500 homes, today there are only about 40 left.
Gladys House-El has roots that run deep in that area of the 4th Ward, which was developed by freed slaves beginning circa 1865. Today, she lives in the home her family business operated out of decades ago.
“I’m the fifth generation of the planners and developers of Freedman’s Town,” House-El said. “My family sold blocks of ice on the back of a horse-drawn buggy.”
Right down the street from House-El’s home is the former home of master printer Rutherford Yates, which is now the Yates Museum showcasing the area’s history.
“They had 13 blacksmiths living here. They had 34 brick makers and installers living here. They had every trade,” said museum city-founder, Catherine Roberts.
Just walking the streets it’s obvious the community is steeped in pride and tradition, but there’s been a struggle to preserve it.
5. Residents dreading notice for 24-hour construction operations at Katy-operated water plant
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for approximately four weeks: That is how much longer a dozen Brookshire families will have to endure the grinding, pounding, and vibrating noises from the construction of a water plant, operated by the city of Katy.
Resident Robson Xavier said the noise is affecting his kids’ schoolwork.
“They can’t sleep,” said Robson. “They get home from school and they falling asleep in classes and become a problem.”